In his welcoming remarks, the Deputy Director-General highlighted how UNESCO has been a longstanding supporter of the Internet Governance Forum and been involved in the process since the foundation of IGF in Athens in 2006:

“In the past eight IGFs, UNESCO organized and co-organized more than 50 workshops and Open Fora on promoting freedom of expression and privacy on Internet, multilingualism in cyberspace, local content, digital preservation, etc.”

The Deputy Director-General stressed that the study “is intended help guide the future decision-making by our 195 Member States about the intersection of the Internet and our programmes.

“It is therefore not a study just for academic purposes but one that will contribute to effective policy about UNESCO's approach and activities concerning the Net.”

The purpose of the second round of IGF open consultations and MAG meetings is to continue preparations for the IGF 2014 annual meeting. The Honorary Chair of the IGF 2014 Open Consultation and MAG meetings, Dr Ahmet Erding Cavusoglu briefed participants on the state of preparations by the host Country.

This meeting is finalizing the main/focus sessions that will be held during IGF 2014 and is finishing the process of evaluating workshop proposals. The NETMundial process and outcomes, and how the IGF could move forward the results and enhance its own outcomes, is part of the discussion.

Live transmission of the meeting can be accessed through the following links:

UNESCO is elaborating a study on Internet-related issues, which will cover access to information and knowledge, freedom of expression, privacy and ethical dimensions of the information society, and explore possible options for future actions. A multi-stakeholder consultation process includes governments, the private sector, civil society, international organizations and the technical community.

The concept paper for the study has been shaped by a first round of consultations. The guiding framework of the study is the draft concept of “Internet Universality”, which summarizes the Internet’s core principles relevant to UNESCO’s mandate and fields of competence, namely that the Internet should be: human rights-based, open, accessible to all, and nurtured by multi-stakeholder participation.